By far the most pervasive product-handling process within any retailer's distribution system is the selective retrieval or “picking” of merchandise from inventory, whether cases or individual item units, to fill orders by “putting” product in containers, such as boxes or totes. In applications with higher volume and wider product assortment, “zone” picking is more typical, with each picker stationed in a designated area, or zone, and responsible for picking all ordered items in that area and placing them into containers (e.g., boxes or totes). Pickers in a typical pick-and-put process spend only a portion of the total work time actually picking and putting items in containers. A significant amount of time is spent traveling to the correct picking location, ensuring that the target pick is the right item, ensuring the right number of times have been picked, or just waiting to perform the next transaction.
A number of technologies, such as barcode scanning, pick-to-light, and pick-to-voice have been developed that improve accuracy and improve productivity of non-travel tasks. For example, in a pick-to-light system a picker, scans a carton, waits for lights to illuminate which product is to be picked, walks to the storage keeping unit (SKU) holding the product, selects the product, presses a button to turn off the light, places the product into the correct carton, and then scans the next carton. By way of further example, in a traditional pick-to-voice system, the picker works in a similar manner, but uses voice technology and audible indications to carry out the process instead of visual indications. A need exists for systems and methods that further improve accuracy and productivity.